What We Ask of Our Volunteers
The people we serve are already carrying heavy burdens. We need volunteers who will help us carry those burdens with dignity, compassion and care.
You don't have to know everything. You don't have to be perfect. What we ask is that you show up with respect, listen, follow the rules of your assignment, protect the dignity of the people we serve, and do the best you can with the time you have to give.
Service With Dignity
Before You Volunteer, Watch This
Volunteering is about more than filling a shift. It is about the people behind the need and what it means when somebody chooses to show up.
Heaven Sent Community Services & Veterans Assistance — serving people with dignity, respect and compassion.
The people who come to Heaven Sent may be Veterans, seniors, people with disabilities, families, people experiencing homelessness, working people living in vehicles, or people trying to recover after a disaster or another difficult event.
They are not projects. They are not numbers. They are people.
Some may be having one of the hardest days of their lives. A volunteer may not be able to fix everything that brought them to us, but every volunteer can make sure that person is treated with dignity while they are with us.
Big Hearts Come in All Sizes.
Sometimes the most important thing a volunteer brings isn't a truck, a toolbox, or a donation. It's a kind voice and the willingness to stay.
Mop & Manie represent the softer side of Heaven Sent's promise: comfort for a child, encouragement for a Veteran, a little warmth for a family in crisis, and a reminder that kindness belongs beside accountability.
We organize, train, document, coordinate and follow through because people deserve dependable help. We also remember why we do it: every person deserves to feel seen.
What We Expect From You
These expectations apply whether you volunteer every week, once a month, once every six months, at a community event or as part of a disaster-response assignment.
Dignity & Respect
Every person deserves to be treated like a human being, regardless of where they sleep, how much money they have, what they are wearing or what brought them to us.
- Speak to people respectfully.
- Listen without unnecessary judgment.
- Respect personal space and boundaries.
- Protect client confidentiality.
- Never embarrass or exploit somebody's hardship.
Dependability
We understand volunteers have jobs, families, appointments and responsibilities. We do not expect you to be available all the time.
- Be realistic about the time you can give.
- If you accept an assignment, make a good-faith effort to show up.
- If something changes, communicate with us as soon as practical.
- Follow the instructions for your assigned role.
Safety & Boundaries
Helping people does not mean ignoring safety, professional boundaries or the limits of a volunteer role.
- Follow Heaven Sent safety instructions.
- Work within the role you were assigned.
- Ask a supervisor when you are uncertain.
- Do not make promises Heaven Sent has not authorized.
- Do not provide specialized professional services outside your qualifications and approved assignment.
Compassion Without Judgment
You may meet somebody whose life looks very different from your own. You do not have to understand every decision they have made in order to treat them with respect.
- Listen more than you speak.
- Do not assume you know somebody's story.
- Help people understand available options.
- Respect a person's right to make their own decisions.
If You Wouldn't Give It to Your Family, Don't Give It to Ours.
Donations and supplies should be safe, clean, usable, appropriate and dignity-preserving.
If you would not reasonably wear it, sleep on it, eat it, use it or feel comfortable giving it to somebody in your own family, it should not be handed to a client simply because that person is homeless or struggling.
People in crisis deserve quality and respect too. That principle applies to donated clothing, food, bedding, equipment, hygiene supplies and everything else we distribute.
A Faith-Grounded Organization That Serves People With Respect
Heaven Sent is a faith-grounded organization. Our faith helps shape our commitment to service, compassion, dignity and caring for people who are struggling.
Volunteers should respect that foundation. At the same time, assistance is not an opportunity to pressure somebody into a religious belief. Faith and pastoral support should remain voluntary.
Serve with faith. Lead with compassion. Respect the person standing in front of you.
Not Every Volunteer Role Requires the Same Process
Screening and training should match the responsibility of the assignment.
Local & Occasional Volunteers
Somebody helping at a community event, sorting donations or assisting periodically does not necessarily need the same onboarding process as a person preparing for a national disaster deployment.
Depending on the assignment, Heaven Sent may use an application, conversation, orientation, role-specific instructions or additional screening when appropriate.
National Disaster Response
Disaster deployment carries additional responsibility because volunteers may operate in unfamiliar communities, changing field conditions and coordinated emergency operations.
National deployment volunteers may therefore require additional screening, background checks, credential verification, orientation, training, activation and assignment before deployment.
This Is More Than Clocking Volunteer Hours
Volunteering with Heaven Sent is about standing in the gap when somebody needs another human being to show up.
You may think you are just one person. But to the person sitting in a vehicle, tent, motel room, camper or dark apartment, you may be the person who showed up that day.
There Is a Place for You at Heaven Sent.
You don't have to promise us every weekend. You don't have to rearrange your entire life. Tell us what you can do and when you can do it, and we'll work to match you with an appropriate opportunity.
One Saturday matters. One afternoon matters. One disaster deployment matters. One person showing up matters.
Heaven Sent Community Services & Veterans Assistance
Serving Veterans, people experiencing homelessness, seniors, people with disabilities, families, communities and disaster survivors with dignity, respect and compassion.
Joseph “Joe” Ryan
Founder & Executive Director
Office:
(407) 279-0520
Cell:
(717) 623-0164